Memo: Internal — Pipeline Safety Interpretation

Page 1UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM April 23, 1979 SUBJ: Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company- Determination of Transmission Lines FROM: Chief, Eastern Region, DMT-15 TO: Associate Director, Office of Pipeline Safety Regulation, THRU: Associate Director, Office of Operations and Enforcement, DMT-30 DMT-10 Attached is a copy of drawing STD.3490-65 which shows various pipelines, A through M, of Pennsylvania Gas and Water Co., Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that receive gas from Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation and Tennessee Gas Transmission Company. Subtracting the 750 customers served directly off pipelines A through M, there are about 110,300 customers in the various areas served by this operator. The operator has advised that there are about 83,700 customers in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton which represents 75% of all its customers. The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission wishes to know if our office considers the lines marked in red to be transmission lines or a part of Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company's distribution system. Basically, Mr. John Falherty, Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, and I consider these lines, A through M, as being transmission lines with 750 customers directly off the lines being equivalent to farm taps. The 12-inch Auburn Line, marked B, supplies gas to one large customer, Charmin Paper Mill. Please advise if the pipelines, A through M, shown on the attached drawing are intrastate gas transmission pipelines. Lance F. Heverly Attachments DAL\192\3\79-04-23 1#

Page 2DAL\192\3\79-04-23#

Page 3May 23, 1979 Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company Determination of Transmission Lines Associate Director for Pipeline Safety Regulation, DMT-30 Chief, Eastern Region, DMT-15 Your memo of April 23, 1979, refers to various pipelines marked "A"-"M" that are operated by the Pennsylvania Gas and Water Company and asks whether these pipelines are transmission lines or distribution lines. Since each of the pipelines in question stems from an interstate transmission line and runs to a distribution center (including line "B" which serves an apparently large volume customer), they are "transmission lines" under the definition of that term in Section 193.3. The fact that the pipelines serve "farm tap" customers along the way to the distribution centers does not affect our opinion since the primary function of the pipelines is to deliver gas to distribution centers. Cesar DeLeon DAL\192\3\79-04-23 3#

Page 4Interpretation No. 79-16 DAL\192\3\79-04-23 4#